Editor,
I wish to thank you for K N Kumar’s article, “Resurrect the Khasi Script: Reclaim a Culture!” It reminds me of a conversation on this same topic I recently had with a Higher Secondary level student who voiced his own dissatisfaction with the Khasi alphabet, because, according to him, “it’s incorrect.” And I happen to have made the following commentary on this topic too, in my forthcoming book “Letters to A Grandson,” adapted as follows, for the purpose of this brief response:
Indeed, we need to ask if the “father” of Khasi Literature really did enough genuine study of our dialects so he could have come up with a more accurate script that best represents them in their various beautiful fine distinctions. Or did he just simply impose his literature on us by Romanising the Sohra dialect with the very same centralised Roman script his own people’s dialects were Romanised with? And wasn’t that, Romanising of our literature, done, so he and his colleagues could centralise their conversion project?
We know how it was—the Christian Bible (appropriated ancient Jewish narratives), their particular denomination’s catechism, and so on, laboriously translated into Sohra dialect by the missionaries who arrived in our Hills almost two hundred years ago. And how that one orthographically Romanised Khasi dialect became their centralised tool to indoctrinate their converts across our Khasi Hills. And wasn’t that done to us because of what was done to them too? Weren’t their own dialects Romanised, and centralised, into “English” when Britishers were converted into, and indoctrinated with, Roman Catholicism? Didn’t that all begin with the Gregorian missionaries from Rome, under Augustine? The same Augustine who went on to become the first “Archbishop of Canterbury?” And he wasn’t “Anglican” like present-day Archbishops of Canterbury are, was he?
So why don’t we take a minute to think, about that particular Romanisation tool. How Romanised “religious” literature (appropriated ancient Jewish narratives) at the hands of missionaries succeeded in “converting” a majority of us into various forms of “Christianity.” How those missionaries super-imposed their Romanised narratives on our, once upon a time, original, narratives, about ourselves as a people, thus turning their singular Romanised narrative into the narrative that sidelined our original narratives. And all such similar attempts to indoctrinate indigenous people everywhere with tenets of the religion of white supremacist “Christian” empires before and ever since.
And how those superimposition/conversion attempts lead all the way back to ancient Rome where it all began under Constantine. Where the indigenous Jewish Yeshua narrative was usurped, centralised, and weaponised, as the Christianisation, or shall we say, Romanisation, arm, of that empire.
Therefore, I sincerely hope Mr. Kumar’s article will be looked at as a loving critique of our Literature in its present Romanised state, before Khasi earns its much yearned-for place in the Eighth Schedule.
Yours etc.,
Yona M. Nonglang.
Via email
Crisis in the Middle East
Editor,
I sincerely applaud Bhogtoram Mawroh for laying out the realities of the Middle East Crisis and for asking honest and direct questions about the Gaza genocide and more. I am equally astounded by the blind support for genocide and the lack of empathy by ‘indigenous’ people for another set of indigenous people being brutally slaughtered and dispossessed of their indigenous lands as the Palestinians. This is especially regrettable as indigenous peoples from across the world stand with Palestine. I connect this to a couple of points.1. Colonial hangover – an entrenched colonial mindset and support for colonialism.2. Acquired Imperial racism.3 Islamophobia 4. Rabid religiosity. 5 Championing neo-liberal corporate profit and efficiency paradigms over principles of decency and humanity.
Yours etc.,
Roshmi Goswami,
Via email
Education system in Meghalaya
Editor,
The Performance Grading Index (PGI) is a tool developed by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL) to assess and grade the performance of states and union territories (UTs) in school education. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the education system across different states and UTs, using a uniform scale to encourage improvement. The Performance Grading Index (PGI) uses a set of indicators grouped under categories like Learning Outcomes & Quality, Access, Infrastructure & Facilities, Equity, and Governance Processes. These indicators provide insights into the weakness and strength of states and districts thereby improving their educational system which involves addressing specific indicators within each domain, such as teacher availability, infrastructure, and learning resource.
As per the PGI report in the previous year, Meghalaya ranked lowest among all states and union territories, with a score of 401.6. In the subsequent 2023-24 report, Meghalaya’s score improved slightly to 417.9, but it remained the only state in the lowest performance band, ‘Akanshi-3’. The grades are organized into categories, with the highest being “Daksh” and the lowest being “Akanshi-3”. The main problem of Meghalaya in the educational system is the lack of basic infrastructure, student retention which is the ability of an institution to keep students to enrol from the start of the program till its completion. In other words to minimize dropouts and maximize success. The other problem is the slow recruitment of teachers. As a concerned citizen of Meghalaya, we cannot just point fingers at the Government but rather come up with some suggestion to improve the education system. Here are some points to increase the Performance Grading Index(PGI):
1. Focus on improving the availability of teachers, their training and regular inspection of schools.
2. Adequate infrastructure including clean toilets, proper drinking water, sanitation and electricity.
3. Transparent recruitment of teachers.
4. Encourage students to complete the programs and reduce dropouts.
5. Regular monitoring of education program and evaluating its impact on students.
6. Equip schools with computers and internet connectivity to enhance learning.
I hope that the above points will be taken seriously and reach the concerned authority so that Meghalaya can become one of the top states to progress in the educational field.
Yours etc.,
Alvinson P Syiem
Shillong – 3